


Hindsight

by SonjaJade



Series: Reconnecting [3]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Career Advice, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherly Advice, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 03:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10453695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: Owen gives his son Henry some fatherly advice on how to avoid the nightmare he lived in Ishval.





	

**Author's Note:**

> FMA Fic contest Prompt: Career Advice

The Knox house had been bustling with a gaggle of women, all cleaning and rearranging furniture and otherwise making room for Mrs. Knox to make her return to her husband’s home.  Today was cleaning, tomorrow would be painting, the next week the kitchen would be updated and the upstairs bathroom repaired.  So for the moment, Dr. Knox was staying in his other house, the one that he kept for his wife and son while he lived in squalor.

Cora had long since gone to bed, citing that she would be going to other house in the morning to be sure the painters got the right colors.  That left Owen and his son to catch up over coffee and cigarettes at the breakfast table, the back door propped open to let the smoke out and the smell of late summer rain in.

“So you’re set on becoming a doctor, huh?” Owen asked as he sipped at his coffee.

“Well, yeah!” Henry said brightly, flipping his ashes into the ashtray.  “I mean, you’ve been pretty successful and are secure in your position as coroner.  If I want to be able to look after a wife a kids of my own, I want to be sure I can take care of them.”  He caught his father’s eyes.  “You know, take care of them the way you’ve always taken care of Mom and me.”

Owen scowled into his cup and sighed.  “It wasn’t always easy.  And it tore my heart out when I had to put you two up here.”  He lit another smoke and continued, “Not only was I forking out two sets of bills every month, I didn’t even get to watch you grow up because of the shit they made me do in the war.  You were just a little lad when I got drafted, and then after I came home…  Well, you saw the bruises I left on your mother.”

Henry nodded grimly.  “Yeah…  I’d give anything to be able to make you forget all about that place.”

“Hn.  When I get to hell, I’m gonna have to answer for everything I did.  I don’t think I’d like standing around wondering why I was there.”  He blew smoke out from his nose.  “Son, I support you if you decide to continue down the medical path.  Before I went to Ishval, I loved my work and enjoyed my field.  When I was young like you, I looked forward to the long nights and helping people in every way I could.  But let me give you some advice.  Choose something that the military won’t ever need.”

Henry’s face scrunched up in confusion.  “But won’t the military take _anyone_ in the medical profession?”

Knox shook his head.  “They won’t need obstetricians or pediatrics.  Women in the army have to sign that they’ll take birth control for as long as they’re on active duty.  Geriatrics is reserved for the state run retirement homes, and those doctors are normally stationed permanently and sometimes even take civilian docs from time to time.  But the reason I say that is so that if you get drafted, you won’t be asked to experiment outside of your field.”

Henry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and his father continued.  “I was a general surgeon, so when I got called up to do medical experimentation, I certainly couldn’t say I didn’t know how to operate inside a human body.  But if you get drafted as an obstetrician who only serves as a nurse or an orderly or whatever, you won’t be asked to remove sections of bone or muscle without anesthetic to observe the effects of pain, replant those removed pieces in someone else to see if it could even be done, or reroute arteries and veins just to see what happens.”

They were each quiet a moment, and finally his son spoke in a thick voice, “That place was horrible.”

“Everything about the Ishvallan conflict was horrible.  Those people were out there not bothering anyone, and all the sudden we just marched in with a giant shit stirrer and made trouble for everybody.”  Owen looked down at his hands and sighed.  “I’ve probably killed as many people as any of the alchemists, and I don’t have the first idea about anything related to alchemy.”  Then he smiled at Henry.  “But that doesn’t have to happen to you.  The army probably won’t call up an obstetrician, and they certainly won’t call up a pediatrician, unless it’s to station you at the state orphanage.  So that’s my advice- pick something the army doesn’t find attractive, and then be the very best doc you can be.”

Henry returned his smile and nodded.  Then he looked toward the stairs, and seeing that the coast was clear, he whispered, “Looking at pussy all day can’t be that bad, right?”

Owen burst out laughing, little puffs of smoke billowing out with every peal that rang through the humid night air.  “No, I don’t suppose so!  Even at the end of a bad day, you still got to spend the day looking at pussies!”

They laughed heartily at that, and moved on to discussing different schools.  For the first time in a long time, the Knoxes were a normal family.  And when Owen went to bed that night, he slipped in behind his wife, like a normal husband would do.

In the morning, her throat was as creamy as it had been when he went to sleep.


End file.
